A Quarter Million Miles Each: 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser vs 2010 Ford Focus

Cars have cheap price tags for a lot of reasons. They might have mechanical issues, body damage, or other wear and tear. In this case, there’s nothing really wrong with either car – but they have covered a lot of miles. High mileage isn’t as scary as it used to be, but it will still drag down a car’s value.

Yesterday, we took a look at an older and a newer model of the same car, and it’s clear that to the majority of you, the old ways are the best ways. The big red ’76 Impala absolutely creamed the 2005 model. The general consensus seems to have been that the newer Impala would make fine basic transportation, but it isn’t really a desirable car. Big Red might very well have more rust than the seller is letting on, as many of you suspected, but it would have to be pretty bad to make it a bad deal.

I’m lucky enough to no longer be in the market for $1,500 beaters just to get to work and back, so I have no use for the ’05 Impala. I don’t have any use for a big-ass ’70s land barge either, but given the choice between the two, it’s the one I would choose as well.

It used to be that when a car hit 100,000 miles, it was done for. It didn’t matter where it came from or who built it. If you were absolutely meticulous about maintaining it, you could get a car to go further, but before long you’d be rebuilding and replacing things left and right. Over the last 30 years or so, reliability and durability has improved across the board to the point where almost any car can hit 200,000 miles with not much more than routine maintenance and a few replacement parts. These two are nothing special, just ordinary everyday economy cars that have rolled a quarter of a million miles and still run just fine. Let’s check them out.

2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser – $1,500

Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Northridge, CA

Odometer reading: 245,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Yep – it’s the car so many of you love to hate, the Plymouth Neon Station Wagon-I mean, Chrysler PT Cruiser. It’s the car that went from popular show car to wait-listed production model to butt of many jokes in less than a decade. But as the years have gone by, the PT Cruiser has had the last laugh: it has turned out to be a pretty good, practical, reliable, cheap used car.

The standard PT Cruiser engine is Chrysler’s 2.4 liter twin-cam four, the same one found under the hoods of so many Dodge Stratus sedans. It was available with either a five-speed manual or a four-speed Ultradrive automatic transmission; this one has the automatic. Yeah, I know. At least Chrysler had worked the bugs out of the Ultradrive by this point. It has 245,000 miles on it, and the seller says it runs and drives just fine.

This is a post-facelift PT, when Chrysler toned down the retro aspects of the interior and tried to bring it into the 2000s. The result is that it looks a lot like a Dodge Caliber inside, and that’s not a good thing. Gray plastic abounds. Oh well; at least it has held up well, and it looks nice and clean. The seller says the air conditioner works fine, too.

The outside is clean too, and the paint is nice and shiny. Too bad it’s refrigerator-white. PT Cruisers came in some nice colors, too; purple was popular, and there was a really nice slate blue as well. I guess the original buyer of this one was just boring. Could be worse, I suppose – fake woodgrain was available too.

2010 Ford Focus SE – $1,900

Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Fullerton, CA

Odometer reading: 253,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Ford has been pushing the idea of a “world car” for years, but of course, we all know it’s largely bullshit. For a couple of years, though, when the Focus was introduced, our version was almost the same as Europe’s, to the point where you’d have to put the two cars side-by-side to tell them apart. In 2004, however, Europe got an all-new Focus, and we got a facelift and a new engine. In 2008, the American version got new sheetmetal and a bunch of structural improvements, and sadly lost its hatchback and wagon variants. All that was left was a two-door coupe, and this four-door sedan.

Under the hood is the celebrated Ford Duratec/Mazda MZR four-cylinder, displacing two liters and making 140 horsepower. It drives the front wheels through a four-speed automatic, also a Mazda joint venture. It’s a reliable and durable combination, and this one has more than a quarter million miles under its belt to prove it. The seller says it runs and drives well, but doesn’t go into details.

The original Focus interior was a cool design, as bold and modern as the outside was. Over the years, it got less daring and more like Ford’s other US offerings, which is to say, dull. Just like with the PT Cruiser, it’s as if the designers started listening to focus groups (no pun intended) instead of their gut instinct when it came time for a facelift, and the result is this design-by-committee snoozefest. It shows some signs of wear and tear, but considering the mileage, it looks pretty good.

Outside, it’s a good color, and it’s nice and shiny, but I’ll never understand how this stubby sedan shape with a mail-slot trunk opening is more desirable than the original hatchback version. Some of the panel gaps, especially where the bumpers join up, are a little off; odds are the bumpers have done their job a time or two over the years.

Of all the ways to save money on a car, seeking out something with lots of miles seems like the safest bet. High miles on a good-running car are a good sign that it’s been maintained, and as long as an inspection doesn’t reveal anything about to give out, you shouldn’t let a big number on the odometer scare you. I realize these two are nobody’s idea of dream cars, but for the price, they could be good cheap runabouts for someone. Which one are you going for?